A few cards I stumbled upon on a Gatherer search that could possibly work in the deck:
Chandra Ablaze: She's a little high-costed, but I've always loved her. Its possible to throw one in for fun! (added bonus of -2'ing after they Sphinx's Rev)
Dangerous Wager: Potential mix of added late-game potential to the deck and card advantage.
Thought Gorger: Potential bomb, but also draws cards! The main down-side many people will assume is that you will discard your hand and then draw no cards if they kill him in response to the first trigger, but that can't happen due to how it's worded! Also bonus "leave play" clause helps with any exile effect!
Burning Inquiry: Another form of Faithless Looting, but 3 cards, at random, and for both players.
Wild Guess: Another form of Dangerous Wager, but without the drawback of having to ditch the whole hand. The downside is sorcery speed and 2-for-1'ing yourself if you get it countered.
Assault Loam on camera at GP Boston-Worcester at 9-1. Exciting!
can't find a list on the internet - any ideas?
I couldn't find anything either. I looked for his list, but ended up just guessing at the general idea since all I could find was the gameplay and what the casters were saying he had. I could make up a mock-list if you want, but it wont be his list exactly, unless I'm really lucky.
I have been testing the last week with Coursers and Communes. My conclusion is that Courser and Young Pyromancer can work well in the same deck to an extent. The courser takes lands off the top, so we can dredge some instants and then flashback/retrace them and get a bunch of tokens. On the flipside, missing that first cast of the spell hurt the deck a bit. Maybe I was just playing it wrong so I'd want others opinions on this.
I do think that Courser is a little weak when we have T2 Pyro, but often times I don't even want to cast Pyro on T2. When I have both in hand, which for some reason is rare, I usually just keep the Pyro in hand for a few turns so that I can get immediate value out of him by casting a spell after him, so I can still get something if they remove him.
As for the Commune the Gods comment... I think that it could potentially be good, maybe if the deck is running more creatures or maybe lots of enchantments in the sideboard. Outside of that case, I feel like it is just a little too slow. Looting fulfills a similar role, but is a possible T1 play, while also having the benefit of having flashback and the ability of pitching two cards from our hand and gaining two cards.
Here is my list, so that people can see why I make the claims I do. As for possible changes... I am considering going for the creature-heavy build, with Tarmogoyf and Bob/Pain Seer, but Young Pyromancer is really making me think heavily against it. It would also make me want to run a few more instants other than Abrupt Decay, so that we can more consistently fuel the Goyfs.
To prevent certain comments like "MOAR LILI'S" I am on a budget, and I currently have access to two lili's, so I figured two is better than none.
Most of my testing so far has been against Burn, Affinity, Small-Zoo, UR Delver, American Control and Melira Pod. I feel weak against Affinity and Burn, hence the sideboard being heavily geared towards those decks.
Small-Zoo tends to be a pretty even match-up from what I can see. Pod can be hard, but if I hit a Flame Jab or Seismic it's mostly in my hands. Burn is terribly difficult, which is why I decided to test the Coursers. UR Delver and American go about the same, and they are heavily lopsided in my favor.
So, I've noticed that not many people have commented on Courser of Kruphix. It's absolutely insane in the deck. I've noticed that I tend to deal a lot of damage to myself, and this negates a decent amount of that damage. Courser provides so much utility in the deck that it's just almost not worth playing the deck without it. It is a 2/4, so it can live through Anger, bolt, helix, Nacatl, and blocks a number of other smaller creatures. Another thing to note, that I noticed someone said earlier, was that the revealing the top of our library actually helps us a lot. It gives us knowledge on if we want to draw or dredge so that we don't miss something like a much needed Decay or Seismic. While on the flip side, it allows us to mill those cards away with dredge if they are dead. One last thing about Courser, that seems fairly obvious, but sometimes people forget, we can play land off the top instead of from our hand, so that we can get access to more cards. That part of Courser is basically just draw a card if there is a land on top. It's absolutely crazy how good this card is in Loam.
The only problem I've run into with it is that I believe I'm not running enough fetches or shocks, and I could use maybe one more filter. Needing to be able to cast Inquisition of Kozilek on T1, then Young Pyromancer, then Courser of Kruphix, while having the capability of a T4 Seismic Assault is relatively difficult.
One last comment before I sign off, Quicksand is secret tech. I love it in most match-ups. It hits so much in most decks. The colorless does hurt, but I think that it's worth it.
Disclaimer, I have not tested any of the other color combos for the deck, so I'm not saying that this is the best list out there, but I do REALLY like Courser.
Thanks a lot for the replies! I'll report back after the next tournament results.
As for a future card discussion... Would we want to run City of Brass/Mana Confluence at all? I understand that it would damage us even more than we already are, but it WOULD provide a steady mana supply. I personally don't think so, but I'm not an expert on this deck by any means. I'm still learning the ins and outs of it.
Against the Mono Blue turns deck just hit their turn spells with Ricochet Trap. You should be running a full suite of those for conrol/tempo matchups anyway. The only "turn" card it doesn't hit is Temporal Mastery.
Creature matchups other than Affinity should be a piece of cake if you work it right.
Against Tarmo-Twin you are going to want something like Dismember to kill their dude when they go to combo off since you aren't worried too much about the beat down plan they have.
Thanks for the reply! I remembered that Time Warp targeted a little too late for me to actually use it to my advantage. As for non-affinity creature decks, I agree that the deck works fantastically against them. One thing I am worried about is increasing my chances against Affinity and RDW, since the Tarmo-Twin was played by the regular who likes to switch decks every month. I only have a few ideas for cards that could improve my matchups there.
For RDW: Brindle boar is a must, but for redundancy's sake, is Spike Feeder or Bottle Gnomes better? I think that the double green on 2/2 body is mediocre, but it does gain 4 life. Whereas the colorless 1/3 body is good for blocking Goblin Guide and netting more health than Boar or Spike Feeder.
For Affinity: I was thinking about tossing in 3 Anger of the Gods to really mess them up. Anger of the Gods, alongside properly placed Ingot Chewers, seems like a hard win for them.
Additionally, what are your thoughts on my changes stated in the original post?
Quote from Tails616 »
Mainboard:
-1 Dismember
+1 Brindle Boar
-1 Kessig Wolf Run
+1 Dryad Arbor
Sideboard:
-1 Brindle Boar
+3 Anger of the Gods
-4 Leyline of the Void
+2 Faerie Macabre
+2 Ricochet Trap
-2 Sin Collector
Hey everyone, I recently got into Modern and made this deck. I've been playing MTG since M10, but very little constructed-competitive. I do a lot of EDH, but I understand nuances and general information about Modern to get my way around. At my LGS, the current meta is Aggro, aggro and MORE aggro. I realize that Soul Sisters would be AMAZING there, but that would require me to completely remake my deck, and I would rather stick to this until I can afford the Soul Sisters deck.
What I ran at the last tournament got me 4-1, but only barely so. I played against 2 affinity decks, 1 RDW, 1 "Taking Turns" and a weird mono-red Blood Moon w/ thoughtseize+Duress sideboard.
The two affinity games were very similar, where I was living on the brink of death for most of the games. Either they stuck a Ravager and sac'd in response to LE, or they dealt more than I wanted them to before I cascaded. I went 2-1 against both of them, but barely took the match in both.
The Burn-deck was not very efficient, so I didn't have too hard of a time with it. If it had been my friend's deck, I would have had a bit more trouble, but still win-able.
The Blood Moon deck caught me off guard, since it was my first match and he had black lands in his sideboard, with Thoughtseize+Duress, so I got hosed by those since I wasn't expecting them. I also made a minor misplay that would have let me combo in game 2. I played a fast-land instead of a fetch on my T3, which let him play Blood Moon and prevent me from finding my basics. I attribute that misplay and the unexpected hand-disruption to me losing the match.
As for Taking Turns... I don't have much to say, since it was just Combo vs. Combo. I made a grave mistake in game 1 where I beast within'd his Howling Mine, thinking it would slow him down, but in reality that beast token killed me since he just took a few extra turns to beat me down. After that, I got a handle of how the deck played better(Since I had only seen a tiny bit of it just before the tournament) and played smarter against it.
Some other decks being run at the tourny: 1 Zoo that was only running one Goyf, 1 Tarmo-Twin, 1 Soul Sisters.(And a few cheesy decks that aren't worth noting due to them not even being tier 4 worthy)
I've been trying to login to the Judge Center on Wizards' website, but it wont let me log in. It just refreshes the page, no error message or anything. Anyone else having this issue?
Seems powerful if the mana cooperates and you can consistently cast all the different charms. Is this the case?
I like that build actually... Looks probably a lot better than mine. Although, I still don't like Fleeting Distraction. It's unreliable and can often just reduce the damage you deal to an opponent, just to draw a card. I personally like Think Twice more, since it out weighs the 2cc with the option of flashback.
Also: Rapid Hybridization is a MUST in the total 75, or Orzhov Charm I suppose, but we really hurt if something like Obzedat resolves.
Is a spell, is a creature, has flying, is instant speed...
Ya, I thought about that, but it just seemed a little too weak without some sort of buff. It might not be bad in the sideboard if you're playing against a reanimator or something.
Idk why people say mutilate is plausible at all. We have a total of 8 swamp shocks to feed it and what... 4 basic swamps at most? It just doesn't seem efficient enough to deal with beat down decks with anything bigger than X/3's and against aggro getting 2 swamps, maybe 3 by turn 4 is not really that consistant.
Farseek helps a lot. I don't know if 12 swamps in the deck + 3-4 Farseeks is enough, but it's there.
Another option is Barter in Blood, it's not amazing, but it also gets around Hexproof.
Chandra Ablaze: She's a little high-costed, but I've always loved her. Its possible to throw one in for fun! (added bonus of -2'ing after they Sphinx's Rev)
Dangerous Wager: Potential mix of added late-game potential to the deck and card advantage.
Thought Gorger: Potential bomb, but also draws cards! The main down-side many people will assume is that you will discard your hand and then draw no cards if they kill him in response to the first trigger, but that can't happen due to how it's worded! Also bonus "leave play" clause helps with any exile effect!
Burning Inquiry: Another form of Faithless Looting, but 3 cards, at random, and for both players.
Wild Guess: Another form of Dangerous Wager, but without the drawback of having to ditch the whole hand. The downside is sorcery speed and 2-for-1'ing yourself if you get it countered.
I couldn't find anything either. I looked for his list, but ended up just guessing at the general idea since all I could find was the gameplay and what the casters were saying he had. I could make up a mock-list if you want, but it wont be his list exactly, unless I'm really lucky.
I do think that Courser is a little weak when we have T2 Pyro, but often times I don't even want to cast Pyro on T2. When I have both in hand, which for some reason is rare, I usually just keep the Pyro in hand for a few turns so that I can get immediate value out of him by casting a spell after him, so I can still get something if they remove him.
Here is my list, so that people can see why I make the claims I do. As for possible changes... I am considering going for the creature-heavy build, with Tarmogoyf and Bob/Pain Seer, but Young Pyromancer is really making me think heavily against it. It would also make me want to run a few more instants other than Abrupt Decay, so that we can more consistently fuel the Goyfs.
To prevent certain comments like "MOAR LILI'S" I am on a budget, and I currently have access to two lili's, so I figured two is better than none.
4 Courser of Kruphix
4 Young Pyromancer
Sorcery: 18
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Life From the Loam
4 Faithless Looting
3 Raven's Crime
2 Flame Jab
1 Syphon Life
Instant: 3
3 Abrupt Decay
Enchantment: 3
3 Seismic Assault
Planeswalker: 2
2 Liliana of the Veil
Lands: 26
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
2 Raging Ravine
2 Stomping Ground
2 Overgrown Tomb
2 Blood Crypt
2 Graven Cairns
2 Twilight Mire
1 Fire-lit Thicket
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Quicksand
1 Swamp
1 Forest
4 Ancient Grudge
3 Anger of the Gods
3 Obstinate Baloth
2 Bojuka Bog
1 Syphon Life
1 Damnation
1 Ghost Quarter
Most of my testing so far has been against Burn, Affinity, Small-Zoo, UR Delver, American Control and Melira Pod. I feel weak against Affinity and Burn, hence the sideboard being heavily geared towards those decks.
Small-Zoo tends to be a pretty even match-up from what I can see.
Pod can be hard, but if I hit a Flame Jab or Seismic it's mostly in my hands.
Burn is terribly difficult, which is why I decided to test the Coursers.
UR Delver and American go about the same, and they are heavily lopsided in my favor.
So, I've noticed that not many people have commented on Courser of Kruphix. It's absolutely insane in the deck. I've noticed that I tend to deal a lot of damage to myself, and this negates a decent amount of that damage. Courser provides so much utility in the deck that it's just almost not worth playing the deck without it. It is a 2/4, so it can live through Anger, bolt, helix, Nacatl, and blocks a number of other smaller creatures. Another thing to note, that I noticed someone said earlier, was that the revealing the top of our library actually helps us a lot. It gives us knowledge on if we want to draw or dredge so that we don't miss something like a much needed Decay or Seismic. While on the flip side, it allows us to mill those cards away with dredge if they are dead. One last thing about Courser, that seems fairly obvious, but sometimes people forget, we can play land off the top instead of from our hand, so that we can get access to more cards. That part of Courser is basically just draw a card if there is a land on top. It's absolutely crazy how good this card is in Loam.
The only problem I've run into with it is that I believe I'm not running enough fetches or shocks, and I could use maybe one more filter. Needing to be able to cast Inquisition of Kozilek on T1, then Young Pyromancer, then Courser of Kruphix, while having the capability of a T4 Seismic Assault is relatively difficult.
One last comment before I sign off, Quicksand is secret tech. I love it in most match-ups. It hits so much in most decks. The colorless does hurt, but I think that it's worth it.
Disclaimer, I have not tested any of the other color combos for the deck, so I'm not saying that this is the best list out there, but I do REALLY like Courser.
As for a future card discussion... Would we want to run City of Brass/Mana Confluence at all? I understand that it would damage us even more than we already are, but it WOULD provide a steady mana supply. I personally don't think so, but I'm not an expert on this deck by any means. I'm still learning the ins and outs of it.
Thanks for the reply! I remembered that Time Warp targeted a little too late for me to actually use it to my advantage. As for non-affinity creature decks, I agree that the deck works fantastically against them. One thing I am worried about is increasing my chances against Affinity and RDW, since the Tarmo-Twin was played by the regular who likes to switch decks every month. I only have a few ideas for cards that could improve my matchups there.
For RDW: Brindle boar is a must, but for redundancy's sake, is Spike Feeder or Bottle Gnomes better? I think that the double green on 2/2 body is mediocre, but it does gain 4 life. Whereas the colorless 1/3 body is good for blocking Goblin Guide and netting more health than Boar or Spike Feeder.
For Affinity: I was thinking about tossing in 3 Anger of the Gods to really mess them up. Anger of the Gods, alongside properly placed Ingot Chewers, seems like a hard win for them.
Additionally, what are your thoughts on my changes stated in the original post?
What I ran at the last tournament got me 4-1, but only barely so. I played against 2 affinity decks, 1 RDW, 1 "Taking Turns" and a weird mono-red Blood Moon w/ thoughtseize+Duress sideboard.
The two affinity games were very similar, where I was living on the brink of death for most of the games. Either they stuck a Ravager and sac'd in response to LE, or they dealt more than I wanted them to before I cascaded. I went 2-1 against both of them, but barely took the match in both.
The Burn-deck was not very efficient, so I didn't have too hard of a time with it. If it had been my friend's deck, I would have had a bit more trouble, but still win-able.
The Blood Moon deck caught me off guard, since it was my first match and he had black lands in his sideboard, with Thoughtseize+Duress, so I got hosed by those since I wasn't expecting them. I also made a minor misplay that would have let me combo in game 2. I played a fast-land instead of a fetch on my T3, which let him play Blood Moon and prevent me from finding my basics. I attribute that misplay and the unexpected hand-disruption to me losing the match.
As for Taking Turns... I don't have much to say, since it was just Combo vs. Combo. I made a grave mistake in game 1 where I beast within'd his Howling Mine, thinking it would slow him down, but in reality that beast token killed me since he just took a few extra turns to beat me down. After that, I got a handle of how the deck played better(Since I had only seen a tiny bit of it just before the tournament) and played smarter against it.
Some other decks being run at the tourny: 1 Zoo that was only running one Goyf, 1 Tarmo-Twin, 1 Soul Sisters.(And a few cheesy decks that aren't worth noting due to them not even being tier 4 worthy)
4x Architects of Will
4x Deadshot Minotaur
4x Monstrous Carabid
4x Street Wraith
4x Pale Recluse
4x Fulminator Mage
2x Simian Spirit Guide
1x Jungle Weaver
1x Brindle Boar
Instants/Sorceries(13)
4x Violent Outburst
3x Demonic Dread
3x Living End
2x Beast Within
1x Dismember
4x Blackcleave Cliff
4x Copperline Gorge
4x Verdant Catacombs
1x Blood Crypt
1x Godless Shrine
1x Stomping Ground
1x Overgrown Tomb
1x Swamp
1x Forest
1x Kessig Wolf Run
3x Brindle Boar
4x Leyline of the Void
4x Ingot Chewer
2x Sin Collector
2x Ricochet Trap
My current ideas for changing due to the decks being run:
-1 Dismember
+1 Brindle Boar
-1 Kessig Wolf Run
+1 Dryad Arbor
Sideboard:
-1 Brindle Boar
+3 Anger of the Gods
-4 Leyline of the Void
+2 Faerie Macabre
+2 Ricochet Trap
-2 Sin Collector
Any feedback?
I like that build actually... Looks probably a lot better than mine. Although, I still don't like Fleeting Distraction. It's unreliable and can often just reduce the damage you deal to an opponent, just to draw a card. I personally like Think Twice more, since it out weighs the 2cc with the option of flashback.
Also: Rapid Hybridization is a MUST in the total 75, or Orzhov Charm I suppose, but we really hurt if something like Obzedat resolves.
Ya, I thought about that, but it just seemed a little too weak without some sort of buff. It might not be bad in the sideboard if you're playing against a reanimator or something.
I haven't had the chance to test it against anything besides my Junk Tokens, but it's got an even match-up.
Here's the list I brewed up.
4x vampire nighthawk
4x delver of secrets
3x deathrite shaman
2x forbidden alchemy
2x abrupt decay
4x dimir charm
2x unsummon
2x cremate
3x spell rupture
1x syncopate
3x think twice
4x thought scour
2x ultimate price
4x watery grave
2x overgrown tomb
4x breeding pool
3x island
3x hinterland harbor
4x drowned catacombs
T1: Goblin
T2: Goblin
T3: Hellraiser
T4: Krenko, make tokens
T5: Burn at the Stake
Farseek helps a lot. I don't know if 12 swamps in the deck + 3-4 Farseeks is enough, but it's there.
Another option is Barter in Blood, it's not amazing, but it also gets around Hexproof.